Collapsible container structure



July 12, 1966 F. E. DOBSON 3,260,411

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER STRUCTURE Filed July 13, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. l6 FRANK EGREMONT ooasou sa w ATTORNEY July 12, 1966 F. E. DOBSQN 3,260,411

COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER STRUCTURE Filed July 13, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

FRANK EGREMONT DOBSON ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,260,411 COLLAPSIBLE CONTAINER STRUCTURE Frank Egremont Dohson, Pittstown, N.J., assignor to American Can Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed July 13, 1964, Ser. No. 381,980 20 Claims. (Cl. 222107) The present invention relates to a container having a laminated wall construction in the body and is more particularly concerned with a collapsible tube having barrier means in both the body and headpiece portions thereof, whereby product permeation and oxygen absorption are effectively prevented in all regions of the container structure susceptible thereto.

Collapsible tubes formed of metallic and plastic materials have long been known in the packing field. Extruded metal tubes, and particularly those constructed of lead, are inherently brittle and repated use not infrequently results in wall cracks, so that product is exuded from a location other than the dispensing orifice. Aluminum tubes, while being less brittle, are somewhat limited in their applications, since to date it has not been possible to apply to the interior surfaces of these tubes a completely satisfactory coating, when required to prevent attack and corrosion of the metal by alkaline or acid contents and therefore contamination of the contents by the reaction products. The aforementioned internal coating operation requires an additional processing step, which necessarily increases the cost of the final article.

Tubes formed of polyethylene and other plastic materials have enjoyed wide commercial success in the packaging of products. However, certain other products, after a time, have been noted to deteriorate when contained therein. Plastics, as exemplified by polyethylene, are permeable to a degree when employed in the wall thicknesses used in tubular containers. When packed in these plastic tubes the essential oils embodied in most dentifrices for flavoring purposes are reduced in volume during storage of the container, thereby rendering the dentifrice less palatable. Then too, plastic container walls absorb oxygen after a period of time and ultimately may decompose the product, which has actually been found to be the case with fluoride-containing toothpaste.

It has been proposed to provide a relatively thin barrier, between the product and the polyethylene tu-be body, or between several layers of polyethylene, to prevent the mentioned loss of essential oils and the absorption of oxygen. It has been suggested that the tube body be made in the form of a laminate with a metallic barrier as an inner layer between facing sheets of polyethylene, and that the laminate be formed with or without suitable adhesives. However, while a structure of this general character is effective to prevent product permeation and oxygen absorption through the tube body, there remains the possibility of product deterioration by reason of the absence of a barrier layer in the region of the tube breast. This possibility is especially present, when, as a matter of material savings or for other reasons, the wall thickness of the thermoplastic headpiece is reduced.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a collapsible dispensing container having barrier means in both the body and headpiece portions thereof.

Another object of this invention lies in the provision of a tubular container having a plurality of adherent 3,260,411 Patented July 12, 1966 layers in the body and breast potrions thereof whereby one of said layers provides a barrier to product permeation and oxygen absorption and another of said layers is fusable with thermoplastic.

A further object of the instant invention is the provision of a collapsible dispensing container having a fluid impermeable body and head.

Numerous other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent as it is better understood from the following description, which, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, discloses a preferred embodiment thereof.

The above objects are obtained by providing a collapsible dispensing container having a deformable body comprising a plurality of laminas. One of the laminas is a barrier substantially impervious to permeation by fluid products while another of the laminas is capable of being directly bonded to thermoplastic. A thermoplastic headpiece is fused to one end of the body and oxygen impermeable barrier means are placed interiorly of said headpiece, thereby providing a fluid impermeable collapsible container body and head.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a collapsible dispensing container embodying the novel concepts of this invention, with portions of the body walls being broken away to more fully illustrate the laminated structure;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial sectional view taken substantially along the lines 22 of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 3-7 are enlarged partial sectional views, similar to FIG. 2, illustrating modified forms of the head construction.

As a preferred or exemplary embodiment of the instant invention, FIG. 1 illustrates a container, generally designated C, and comprises a collapsible body 10 closed at one end by heat sealing or other techniques, as indicated at 11. The tubular body mounts at its opposite end a plastic headpiece 12 shaped to provide a neck 13 and breast 14 of which the structural features will be more fully described hereinafter.

The tubular body 10 comprises three layers laminated or otherwise bonded to one another, although as will be noted later, particular applications may permit a reduction in the number of layers to two while other factors may render desirable the use of more layers in the 1amina'te. However, as shown, the collapsible body 10 includes an outer layer 15 desirably provided by a thermoplastic material such as polyolefin, although a cellulosic material such as paper can be used in certain instances.

referably though the outer protective medium is a polyolefin illustratively taking the form of polyethylene.

An interlayer or barrier layer 16, which provides the barrier protection against oxygen absorption from the atmosphere and essential oil permeation outwardly through the tube body 10, is a metallic foil having a thickness sufiicient to impart the requisite barrier properties and yet is maintained relatively thin in the interest of cost and pliability of the container during use. Aluminum foil has been found especially suitable for this purpose, although in certain cases it may be desirable to use a ferrous metal foil. The intermediate layer 16 may have printing or ornamental indicia applied thereto on its outer surface. In this event, the outer layer 15 will be transparent to permit the indicia to be seen. Alternatively, a layer of paper may be placed between the outer layer 15 and the barrier layer 16 to provide a more aesthetic background for the indicia. In either event, the outer layer will be transparent to permit the indicia to be seen. Layer thus protects the indicia, and by providing the ornamentation or printing on the interlayer 16 or paper, the customary treatment of the outer polyethylene layer 15 to render it more receptive to inks is avoided.

Composition of the inner layer 17 may also be varied, depending upon the nature of the products desired to be packaged in the container. However, the use of a polyolefin, such as polyethylene has provided satisfactory results to date for most products.

In most of the known prior art laminated tube structures, only the body portion has a barrier means. There accordingly exists in the breast area the possibility that there will be encountered the same problems which exist when the tube body is constituted solely of polyethylene, and namely, product permeation and oxygen absorption. This condition is of course most likely to occur when the headpiece is reduced in wall thickness to less than that shown for aesthetic, material savings, or other reasons.

However, in accordance with the novel concepts of this invention, FIG. 2 illustrates a form of the invention wherein the mentioned difficulty of the prior art construction is obviated. The upper end of the body 10 terminates at a location such as shown in FIG. 2 which is generally along a shoulder 18 defining the lower terminus of the breast 14. The shoulder 18 is bonded to a circumferential band area 19 at the upper end of the body 10. A barrier member 20 is provided within the breast 14 to complement that embodied within the tube body 10. In the form illustrated in FIG. 2, the barrier member 20 comprises a truncated cone shaped insert 22 having an annular wall 23 tapering outwardly from a generally fiat panel 24 providing a blind sealing the orifice 26 of the tube C. The outer peripheral edge 28 of the insert 22 is folded back upon itself so that its raw edge 30 is imbedded within the thermoplastic breast 14 of the headpiece 12. This prevents the raw edge 30 from coming into contact with any product within the container.

The construction of the insert 22 is preferably similar to the laminate of the tube body 10, i.e. made up of outer and inner thermoplastic layers 15A and 17A and a metallic foil interlayer 16A. The insert 22 preferably is a fabricated structure, and prior to assembly and lamination of the barrier layer 16A and thermoplastic layers 15A and 17A, the metallic foil barrier 16A may be creased radially to take up the excess material therein as the tapering wall 23 is formed from a flat material. Of course, in substitution for the creases, the foil insert 22 could be slit radially to eliminate material gathering in the wall 23.

FIG. 3 illustrates a modified form of the insert 22 shown in FIG. 2. In this form there is no blind sealing of the orifice 26. Instead, the internal edge 32 of the insert 22 is turned upwardly forming an internal annular shoulder 35 with its edge 32 sealed Within the thermoplastic neck 13, of the headpiece 12. Thus, the barrier layer 16A is not exposed to any product within the container.

Where the problem is primarily the prevention of product permeation and oxygen absorption through the tube, but there is no significant problem of metal corrosion by the product within the container, an alternate form of construction of the insert 22 may be employed. FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate a modified construction wherein the corrosion problem is relatively insignificant.

In this form of the invention the insert 22 is in the form of a laminated disc which is positioned on the interior of the breast 14. It is joined to the upper end of the tube body 10 by means of the shoulder 18 which forms a part of the thermoplastic headpiece 12. In this way a raw edge 30 forming the outer periphery of the insert 22 is exposed to the product within the container.

As shown in FIG. 4 the insert 22 is centrally apertured at 36 for dispensing through the orifice 26. This form of construction may be used where absorption or permeation through the neck 13 is not a problem.

Where product permeation or oxygen absorption through the headpiece is desired to be almost completely obviated, an insert 22, having a panel 24, similar to that shown in FIG. 2, may be utilized (FIG. 5). Thus, any oxygen absorption or product permeation through the orifice 26 of the headpice 12 would be eliminated. It is readily understood that prior to utilization of the tube, the panel 24 would have to be ruptured by some appropriate means.

In cases where the problem of corrosion due to the exposure of metal to the product within the container is not a problem, it may be desirable to make the insert 22 wholly of the barrier material or, if a laminate material is still desired for purposes of bonding the headpiece 12 to the body 10, the inner layer 17A may be eliminated. If the inner layer 17A were eliminated, the outer layer 15A would serve as an intermediate layer for fusing of the insert 22 to the headpiece 12. Thus, the barrier layer 16A could, in itself, serve as the barrier member 20 in certain instances.

Also, the barrier within the headpiece may be formed directly from the body 10 of the container (FIG. 7). In this form of the invention, the end of the tube is compressed inwardly so as to take the general shape of the interior of the headpiece 12. This may be done through the use of suitable dies or, as an alternative, an extension of the body 10 may be secured to the end.

Once the shape of the end 38 is formed to include a breast portion 39 and a neck portion 40, the headpiece 12 is fused thereto by methods well known to those skilled in the art.

The outer layer 15 of the formed end 38 of the tube body 10 fuses with the inner surface of the neck 13 and breast 14 of the headpiece 12. The reduced diameter portion or neck 40 defines the dispensing orifice 26 of the container and the end 42 of the tube terminates at the mouth of the orifice 26. If desired, the end 42 may be somewhat shortened so that it will be imbedded within the neck 13, to prevent exposure of the barrier layer 16 to the product as it is dispensed from the container. If desired, the end 42 may be terminated at the base of the neck One problem that is encountered when mating the insert to the body of the tube is insuring that a sufiicient amount of thermoplastic is forced into that area of the breast 14 that forms the shoulder 18. If the distance between the overlap between the insert 22 and the hand area 19 of the tube 10 is too narrow, an insufficient amount of thermoplastic will be forced into this space 44 wherein the shoulder 18 is formed. If this occurs, separation of the insert 22 from the end of the body 10 may occur quite easily during handling of the container.

In order to alleviate this problem and to use a minimum amount of material in the piece 12, FIG. 6 illustrates a modified construction whereby bonding of the insert 22 to the body 10 may be accomplished without the necessity for using an excessive thickness in the breast 14 of the headpiece 12. At a distance spaced from the peripheral edge 28 an lnward curve 46 is formed in the insert 22 so that a portion 48 near the edge 28 of the insert is spaced sufficiently far from the band area 19 of the body 10 to form a thickened shoulder 18 which bonds the insert 22 to the body 10. It is to be understood that this inward curve 46 may also be utilized with the constructions shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5 to decrease the amount of material needed in the breast 14 without lessening the thickness of the shoulder 18 bonding the insert 22 to the body 10.

It is believed manifest from the foregoing that applicant has provided a collapsible container structure which completely avoids the permeation and absorption problems heretofore encountered. The barrier member completely eliminates product permeation and oxygen absorption, and this highly desirable result is achieved by the use of low-cost materials.

When a polyethylene-foil laminate structure is utilized in constructing the insert 22, it is generally desirable to use some type of adhesive to improve the bonding characteristics of the polyethylene to the foil. In certain instances this adhesive may be another thermoplastic, such as a copolymer of an olefin and an ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid. It is readily apparent that if the thermoplastic adhesive itself exhibits adequate protection against permeation or attack by the product within the container, this thermoplastic adhesive could serve to replace the polyethylene in the laminate.

In other instances, as he-reinbefore mentioned, the barrier member 20 may consist only of the barrier layer 16A without either an inner layer 17A or outer layer 15A.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantages will be understood from the foregoing description and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction, and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention or sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form hereinbefore described being merely a preferred embodiment thereof.

I claim:

1. A collapsible dispensing container, comprising:

a deformable body having a plurality of laminas therein;

one of said laminas being a barrier substantially impervious to permeation by oxygen and essential oils;

a second of said laminas being adaptable to be directly bondable to thermoplastic;

a thermoplastic headpiece including an integral shoulder and breast;

the upper surface of said shoulder being fused to said second body lamina along a circumferential band area at one end of said body;

and a laminated insert comprised of both said barrier and thermoplastic bondable laminas and being fused to the undersurface of said shoulder in inwardly spaced relationship to the band area of said body, whereby said shoulder portion of said head piece is interposed between said body and said insert.

2. A collapsible dispensing container, comprising:

a deformable body having a plurality of laminas therein;

one of said laminas being a barrier substantially impervi-ous to permeation by said fluid products;

a second of said laminas being compatible with and able to be directly bondable to thermoplastic;

a thermoplastic headpiece including an integral shoulder and breast;

said shoulder being fused to said second body lamina along a circumferential band area at one end of said body;

and a laminated insert, spaced from band area, said insert comprised of both said barrier and thermo plastic bondable laminas and said insert being bonded to the inside surface of said thermoplastic headpiece.

3. The container of claim 2 wherein said barrier lamina is a metal foil.

4. The container of claim 3 wherein said met-a1 foil is aluminum.

5. The container of claim 3 wherein said foil in said insert is a ferrous metal alloy.

6. The container of claim 2 wherein an adhesive bonds said second lamina to said barrier lamina.

7. The container of claim 2 wherein said headpiece and said second lamina are a polyolefin.

8. The container of claim 2 wherein said insert has an internal annular shoulder defining a central orifice.

9. A collapsible dispensing container, comprising:

a deformable body having a plurality of laminas thereone of said laminas being a barrier substantially impervious to permeation by fluid products;

a second of said laminas being compatible with and able to be directly bondable to thermoplastic;

a thermoplastic headpiece including an integral shoulder and breast;

said shoulder being fused to said second body lamina along a circumferential band area at one end of said body; and a laminated insert,

said laminated insert, spaced from said band area,

comprised of both said barrier and thermoplastic bondable laminas;

and the outer peripheral edge portion of said insert being folded back upon itself whereby the raw edge of said barrier lamina is imbedded within said thermoplastic headpiece.

10. The container of claim 9 wherein said barrier lamina is an aluminum foil.

11. The container of claim 9 wherein an adhesive bonds said second lamina to said barrier lamina.

12. The container of claim 9 wherein said insert has an annular shoulder defining a central orifice.

13. The container of claim 12 wherein the edge of said annular shoulder is imbedded within said headpiece.

14. The container of claim 9 wherein said headpiece and said second lamina are a polyolefin.

15. A collapsible dispensing container, comprising:

a deformable body having a plurality of laminas thereone of said laminas being a barrier substantially impervious to permeation by fluid products;

a second of said laminas capable of being directly bondable to thermoplastic;

a thermoplastic headpiece fused to one end of said body;

and an oxygen impermeable barrier insert bonded to the interior surface of said headpiece thereby providing a fluid impermeable collapsible container body and head.

16. A collapsible dispensing tube for viscous products, comprising:

a deformable body having a plurality of laminas theresaid body laminas comprised of a metal foil barrier layer and inner and outer thermoplastic layers;

a thermoplastic headpiece including integral neck,

breast, and shoulder portions;

and a laminated insert;

said insert having a metal foil barrier layer and inner and outer thermoplastic layers;

the undersur-face of said headpiece being fused to a said thermoplastic layer of said insert and the upper surface of said headpiece being fused to a said thermoplastic layer of said body along a circumferential band area at one end of said body whereby said headpiece, said insert, and said body are coextensively laminated together in said band area, thereby providing a fluid impermeable collapsible container body and head.

17. The container of claim 16 wherein said insert is curved inwardly near its outer peripheral edge to provide a thick breast shoulder which bonds said headpiece to said body.

18. The container of claim 16 wherein said insert is annular in shape and is bounded by inner and outer raw edges which are buried in the headpiece to shield the 7 8 edges of the metal foil barrier layer from exposure to the References Cited by the Examiner product in the container. UNITED STATES PATENTS 19. The container of claim 16 wherein said laminated insert is imperfor-ate and extends across and seals said 1,322,426 11/1919 Gerhart 222-107 Central ifi 5 2,682,974 7/1954 Sm1th 222-407 20. The container of claim 19 wherein the outer edge 2,889,078 5/1959 Thomas 222107 X of said laminated insert is folded back on itself to bury RAPHAEL M LUPO Primary Examiner the edge of the barrier layer of said insert in said thermoplastic headpiece, HADD S. LANE, Examiner. 

1. A COLLAPSIBLE DISPENSING CONTAINER COMPRISING: A DEFORMABLE BODY HAVING A PLURALITY OF LAMINAS THEREIN; ONE OF SAID LAMINAS BEING A BARRIER SUBSTANTIALLY IMPERVIOUS TO PERMEATION BY OXYGEN AND ESSENTIAL OILS; A SECOND OF SAID LAMINAS BEING ADAPTABLE TO BE DIRECTLY BONDABLE TO THERMOPLASTIC; A THERMOPLASTIC HEADPIECE INCLUDING AN INTEGRAL SHOULDER AND BREAST; THE UPPER SURFACE OF SAID SHOULDER BEING FUSED TO SAID SECOND BODY LAMINA ALONG A CIRCUMFERENTIAL BAND AREA AT ONE END OF SAID BODY; AND A LAMINATED INSERT COMPRISED OF BOTH SAID BARRIER AND THERMOPLASTIC BONDABLE LAMINAS AND BEING FUSED TO THE UNDERSURFACE OF SAID SHOULDER IN INWARDLY SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO THE BAND AREA OF SAID BODY, WHEREBY SAID SHOULDER PORTION OF SAID HEAD PIECE IS INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID BODY AND SAID INSERT. 